by K. M. Scott
The head of my cock slid into her wet pussy, and inch by inch I filled her until our bodies joined together completely. She was tight and hot and it took everything in my being not to jackhammer into her like a fucking animal. All the rage at Oliver and Robert and every other bastard who’d kept us apart roiled in my brain, but she didn’t deserve to feel that from me.
She deserved better than that. She deserved to be adored and worshipped.
And that’s what I intended to give her.
Her hands clutched at the back of my neck, pulling me to her, and I kissed her long and deep like everything I’d ever needed existed in that one kiss. Slowly, I slid my cock out of her snug cunt and then even slower I eased back inside her body. I wanted this to last forever, just the two of us together as we gave one another the pleasure we’d never found anywhere else but with each other.
She sunk her teeth into my shoulder and then whispered, “Oh, God, when you go slow like that, it’s like the sweetest torture, Ryder.”
“I want to take my time and fuck you until you can’t stand and I have to carry you to bed,” I groaned as I slid my cock back inside her.
Serena moaned as I hit that spot I knew made her feel incredible. “I don’t care how you do it. Fast, slow, just don’t stop. Don’t stop,” she begged.
She didn’t have to worry. I couldn’t stop if I wanted to.
Her cunt squeezed my cock every time I retreated from her, as if her body didn’t want to lose that feeling our joining created, and gave me the most unbelievable sensations that for a second I didn’t mind leaving her.
But every time that feeling was fleeting, and I was back to missing how her body felt around me. Serena consumed my every thought, my every need, just as she had since the first moment I touched her all that time ago.
I buried myself inside her one last time, staying where I found the only physical pleasure in my days and nights, and leaned against the wall as I came. Her thighs closed around my waist, trembling against my sides, and she came as she kissed me like I truly was what she called me.
Her savior.
Her mouth took from me as my cock filled her, our tongues mingling as we tumbled over that ledge into sublime pleasure that for at least a few minutes pushed everything and everyone in the world away and let us be nothing but completely happy. Finally, she collapsed against me and lay her head on my shoulder with a sigh.
For a long time, we said nothing, each of us silently reveling in the other person next to them. When Serena finally spoke, I heard the concern in her voice.
“Tell me we’ll still get away from here, Ryder. I need to hear you say it today. That we’ll someday soon leave this place and go somewhere just the two of us.”
I turned my head and saw the fear written all over her face. Those beautiful dark eyes stared into mine as she waited to hear me tell her what she so desperately wanted to know.
That I’d do what I always promised.
Easing out of her, I lowered her to the floor. I cradled her worried face and smiled. “We will leave here, Serena. We’ll go to the mountains and find a place away from the rest of the world where the two of us can live away from the ugliness of this house.”
She covered my hands with hers. “I need to believe that, Ryder. I can’t stay here much longer.”
“There’s no reason you have to now. We can go. I don’t have a lot of money since your father likes to say he’s paying me when he puts money into an account only he can get to, but I have a little saved up. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give you a home like this, but what I promise I will do is give you everything I can.”
“I don’t need what I have here. I’ve always had a beautiful home and never felt like I belonged. I want to feel like I belong somewhere.”
I knelt down in front of her and wrapped my arms around her waist as I pressed my cheek to her. “You belong to me, and wherever I am is where you should be.”
Serena gently ran her hand over the top of my head. “I belong to you. I always have. And wherever you are is where I want to be.”
I stood and kissed her softly. “Are you going to stay in this apartment or go back to your room at the main house?”
She looked around at the place she had shared with that fuck of a husband and frowned. “I don’t want to stay here. I only came back here after the funeral because I wanted to make sure we had someplace we could be alone. I feel nothing for this place.”
The misery she’d had to endure there filled every word, and I hated it. Taking her into my arms, I held her to me and whispered, “I’m sorry, Serena.”
“Why?” she asked, looking up at me like what I said hurt her.
“I should have gotten you away from here before your father made you marry that fuck. If I had, you would have never…”
The rest of my sentence got stuck in my throat.
Serena pressed her finger to my lips and shook her head. “You tried to convince me. I didn’t go. That was my mistake. You saved me from a life with him. I could never ask any more of another soul in this world. You have nothing to be sorry for, Ryder. You saved me.”
I kissed the tip of her finger and wished I could believe I’d done enough. Pressing my hand to her belly, I said, “If I had made you leave…”
Again, I couldn’t bring myself to say if I had gotten her away from him, our child would still be growing inside her. What I didn’t do haunted me more than what he did.
Cradling my face, she kissed me and whispered against my lips, “Don’t do this to yourself. You aren’t to blame for anything that happened.”
“I can’t help it. The sight of you lying at the bottom of those steps in a pool of blood makes me want to hate something. I can’t hate him anymore, so that leaves only me.”
“Then hate me for not listening to you when you said to leave this house with you that night. Hate me.”
The thought of that made my heart feel like someone had it in a vice. I couldn’t hate Serena. How could I hate the very soul who made life worth living?
I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in front of me. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever even think that. I couldn’t hate you. You’re the only thing in this world that keeps me human. If it wasn’t for your love, I’d be nothing but the fucking animal your father wants me to be.”
She took my hands in hers and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “Then hate him. Hate my father for marrying me off to that bastard. Hate him for what he makes you do for him. Hate him like I do.”
I took her in my arms to hold her against me. “No more talk about hate tonight. I don’t want to talk about hate with you. Only love.”
“I love you, Ryder,” she whispered sweetly against my chest.
I kissed the top of her head, feeling the softness of her hair against my lips. “I love you, Serena.”
“I wouldn’t be alive without you. Never forget that.”
As we stood there in each other’s arms in that apartment where Oliver had tried to kill her and had succeeded in taking our child away, I had once again saved her just in time, but the truth was I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for Serena. I might exist and look like I was alive, but I would have been dead inside long before now if I didn’t have her.
She made me want to live like I hadn’t wanted to since I had a home and my parents. And now that I felt that love again, I’d protect it with my life, if necessary.
I’d do whatever I had to do to get her away from Robert and that world where love couldn’t exist. I’d promised her I would, and if I died trying, I’d see her free from this place.
Chapter Nine
Ryder
Serena’s hair tickled my nose, waking me from a sound sleep. I looked down my body to see hers entwined with mine. Her tanned and smooth left leg rested against my left thigh, and I couldn’t help running my hand over her skin.
She lifted her head off my chest and looked up at me with a smile. “Good morning.”
“It is,” I said, returni
ng her smile with one of my own. “Anytime I get to spend all night with you is a good thing.”
Shimmying up my body, she kissed me and dipped her head to nuzzle my neck. “I guess you have to go, right?”
As much as I didn’t want to even think about leaving that bed or her, I knew Robert would start to unravel if I didn’t make it to his office for nine o’clock. The last thing I wanted was to deal with him like that after spending such an incredible night with Serena.
I nodded. “Yeah. You know how he is.”
Serena looked up at me and grimaced. “I know. Just tell me we get to leave here soon and you leaving now won’t be so bad.”
I’d thought about how hard it would be for us to get away as she drifted off to sleep hours before, but now in the light of day, all those ideas amounted to nothing but self-imposed obstacles. Oliver was gone, so we had nothing to stop us now.
“We’ll go tonight. I’ll text you the details later, but for now, be ready for when he leaves to go out.”
Stunned at my announcement, she sat up and stared down at me with a look of shock in her eyes. “Tonight? Oh, my God! Ryder, this is really happening, isn’t it?”
I smiled and brought her hand to my lips to kiss it. “Yeah. It’s happening. We’ll leave tonight. We won’t have much to live on and it’s going to be hard for a little while, but we’ll be away from here, and that’s all that matters, right?”
She threw her arms around me and hugged me. “Yes! That’s all that matters! I love you, Ryder. I don’t know how I’m going to keep this secret all day. I’ll have to hide out here so I don’t blow our cover.”
Cradling her face, I kissed her on the forehead. “I need you to promise me you won’t say a thing. This only works if nobody but us knows. I don’t want to take a chance of your father finding out.”
“I know. I won’t tell a soul. I want to leave here more than you know, so I won’t mess this up.”
“I love you, Serena, and when we’re away from here, you’re going to see how happy we can be.”
She hugged me once more before jumping out of bed. “I love you. Oh, I have a million things to do before we leave. You better go so he doesn’t think something’s up. I’ll be waiting for your text.”
Watching her naked body as she trotted away into the bathroom made me want to grab her and pull her back on top of me for another round of lovemaking, but we’d have all the time in the world for that once we got away from there. For now, she was right. I needed to get to Robert’s office before he suspected anything.
* * *
Jesse stood outside the office staring straight ahead across the massive grand entryway like some kind of stone statue. Likely he’d been sent out by Robert for saying something stupid that had irritated him, but he seemed far more somber than usual when he saw me.
“You in the doghouse for something?” I joked as I stopped in front of him.
He simply shook his head but didn’t say a word as he avoided looking at me. Since Jesse was usually a huge talker, I had a feeling he’d gotten himself in real trouble. Poor guy. He really was a decent human being, although sometimes I wondered if he had hay for brains.
“Okay, I guess I better get in there,” I said as he continued to stare straight ahead. “See you later, Jess.”
I stepped into Robert’s office and the door slammed behind me. My brain raced with the idea that Jesse had just closed me in, but why? Before I could figure out the answer, I saw Robert stand from his desk and felt a fist slam into the back of my head. I staggered forward toward the red leather chairs as another blow hit me, this one even harder.
Hands grabbed me and threw me into a wooden chair against the wall I didn’t remember ever being there before. My back slammed against it as the hands held me down so I couldn’t move.
“What the fuck?” I barked in Robert’s direction as he came around the desk slowly to stand in front of me.
His mouth spread into that crocodile smile that never failed to terrify me. Staring down into my eyes, he said, “I just want the truth, Ryder. That’s it. The truth.”
Once again, my mind raced to understand what was happening. Did he find out about Serena and me? Is that what this was about?
I moved to stand, but the two men holding me down pushed me back hard against the chair. Swiveling my head to look at them, I sized up my chances at escape. Definitely unlikely. Both were giant with thick necks and arms like tree trunks. They looked like the type of guys who fucked people up for kicks, if the rabid look in their eyes was any indication. I knew I couldn’t overwhelm either without having the other one get me.
“What’s going on, Robert?” I asked, even as I knew what his answer would be.
“I just want the truth. You’ve never lied to me, have you, Ryder?”
The look on my face likely told him the truth. I’d lied to him about Serena since practically the night I arrived there. He’d caught us that one time and punished us by sending her away and having me nearly pounded into the ground, so he knew I’d lied to him at least once.
Or maybe that wasn’t a lie so much as it was me breaking his cardinal rule. Whatever it was, he’d exacted his revenge quickly and painfully on both Serena and me.
“What’s this about, Robert?” I asked, hoping he’d stop the cryptic shit and finally tell me why he had the two behemoths standing behind me holding me down while he just stared at me and smiled that fucking psychopath grin.
“I guess we know the answer to that question. Maybe I should ask another one and see if you can answer that one. Who do you work for, Ryder?”
Unsure if that was a trick question, I tried to figure out what he was going for as the two guys behind me pressed down harder on my arms, holding them tightly to the chair and sending waves of pain through my shoulders. Did he think I’d been doing work for someone else? The mere idea was ridiculous.
“You, Robert. I work for you.”
The crocodile smile faded just a little, and he took a step toward me. Looking down, he smiled broader again, but I had the sense it was forced now.
“And what is your job you do for me?”
I had no idea where he was going with this, but I answered, “To some people, you say I’m security. To people in business who owe you money, I’m the long arm of the empire you’ve built.”
My answer seemed to please him. He nodded his head and stepped back away from me. “Some people would think that’s a smartass answer, but I don’t. Do you remember the first night I met you and I told you I thought you were pretty fucking cocky?”
“Yeah. I remember you thought I had reason to be cocky then too.”
“You did. You had brass balls, son. Still do, it seems.”
Even though the goons still had a tight hold on me, I felt like something in Robert had relaxed, so I took a chance and asked, “Robert, why do you have two guys holding me down so you can ask me these questions? They’re not necessary. You’re my boss. Ask me anything and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
His eyes narrowed to slits, and he looked over my head toward the two men, gesturing for them to release me. I stretched out my arms to get the blood flowing in them again as Robert returned his attention to me.
“So you work for me? I like hearing that, Ryder.”
The ominous sound of an unspoken threat under those words told me he didn’t like anything about me at that moment. I’d already assessed my chances of getting out of there in one piece if he set the two giants on me and decided my odds weren’t good. I hadn’t entirely gone to pot in the time I’d been working for Robert, but even in good shape I wasn’t enough to handle two guys both larger than me.
“Yeah, of course I work for you. Always have since the day I walked through the front door.”
He shot the two guys another look and then leveled his gaze on me. “Then why did you get rid of Oliver? Who ordered that? Because I didn’t.”
Suddenly, I realized what this was all about. He thought I had taken care of
Oliver for someone else and I was working for him.
“Oh. It’s not what you think, Robert. I’m not working for anyone else.”
In a flash, the two guys had a hold of me and Robert slammed his fist into my face, jamming his knuckles into my eye socket with a punch that sent my head flying back against the chair. Before I could say another word, he hit me again just as hard in the eye a second time.
“Who ordered it, Ryder? Who ordered the hit on Oliver?” Robert bellowed so loud the words echoed off the walls of his office.
I wasn’t going to bring Serena into this. God only knew what he’d do to her if I admitted I’d killed Oliver for her. So I said nothing and braced myself for the next shot to my head as the pain in my eye radiated down my cheekbone.
“You don’t have to say it. I already know. Serena. I should have known at some point I’d have to deal with your little infatuation with each other. I thought sending her away for two years would take care of it, but I see that didn’t work.”
If he thought I was going to simply admit I’d done it for her, he had no idea how wrong he was about what we felt for each other. It hadn’t been simple infatuation since before he sent her off to Italy.
“Robert, he was a fuck. He choked her and pushed her down the stairs. It’s no loss.”
As soon as the words were out, I knew my mouth had gotten me in trouble again. His face turned red with rage, and he barked, “Only I can order you to kill someone! Only me!”
I opened my mouth to say something to defend Serena, but from the side a fist hit my jaw with such force that it felt like my fucking teeth all shifted in my head. Another fist hit the right side of my face, pounding into my cheekbone that still ached from when Robert nailed me in the eye.
From there, the two beasts that had been holding me down went to town on me. One would slam his fist into my face while the other one focused on my gut and chest, pummeling me so fucking hard I couldn’t breathe.
The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth after a few shots, and I couldn’t see out of either eye once the guy on my left began to shove his fist into them repeatedly.